Roadtripping
by Rae Artemis
Summary: This is another in the Roadtripping stories starts ‘Blind Man’s Hunt' continued here, basically what would happen if a regular person caught a ride with the Winchesters, please R&R.
1. Roadtrip

Okay, here is the usual disclaimer: I do not own supernatural, nor any character created by the show, nor some of the ones in this story 'cause I stole them from almost 'real' life (my friends). Nor am I making any money from this unless my friends try and bribe me not to put it up, but I will anyway, so alas no money.

A/N: This is another in the 'Roadtripping' stories (starting with 'Blind Man's Hunt continuing here), basically what would happen if a regular person (well kinda) caught a ride with the Winchesters. Hopefully this chapter will create interest for future chapters, though I will probably write more even if nobody reads this one, call me crazy I do.

Beta'd: By the wonderful morning sunlight, she took the time to beta this for me, given her busy life. As with 'Blind Man's Hunt' this story is dedicated to and in honour of her.

Good writing to everyone

Serenity for all

Sincerely Rae Artemis

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Roadtripping

"You what?!?"

"Sammy, calm down man." Dean paced at the end of the hospital bed. "It just seemed like the right thing to do. I mean Joshua was going to drive her there, but he's going to be laid up for a while now, because of his last hunt. 'Sides Dad sent some co-ordinates not far from there." Sam continued to give him a stare of genuine disbelief. "It seemed like the right thing to do." He muttered, using all of his self-control to look Sammy in the eyes, instead of staring at his feet and scuffing his shoes like a four year old who had done something wrong.

"First, it's Sam. Second, when have you ever cared about doing 'the right thing'? You've never cared, so why start now?" Sam became a touch too animated in his ranting and inadvertently moved his left shoulder, wrenching his bullet wound causing him a great deal of pain. "You can pick up girls anywhere, even hospitals…especially hospitals!" Sam groused as he gingerly touched his shoulder. "You know how wrong that is, don't you?"

"What can I say, natural talent Sammy, I've got what they want." Dean replied, smiling smugly as he folded his arms over his chest and basked for a moment in his glorious self, or what he considered to be his glorious self, Sam didn't appear to agree. "The point is, this'd be a favour to Joshua because he is worried about letting Zoe down." Dean appealed to Sam's close relationship to Joshua. Out of all the hunter friends of their father's Sammy was closest to the old hunter. Sam respected and liked Joshua, as the man had been kind to the boys and had even sided with Sam against John on a couple of memorable occasions, like when Sam had wanted to go on field trips with school, or had wanted to play little league.

"Really?" Dean could see Sam's resolve crumbling. "Well I guess…when you put it like that."

"Great. There's just one thing…"

"What's that?" Sam sighed bracing himself for something outrageous.

"She doesn't know what we do."

"WHAT?!?!?"

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"Did I hear shouting coming from your brother's room? Is he alright?" Zoe sat across from him in the hospital's cafeteria, eyeing her green Jell-O with a dubious look on her face.

"No Sammy's fine, he just moved his shoulder and it kinda hurt." Dean gave her a reassuring smile and gave his own orange Jell-O a jab. "This is some of the worst Jell-O I've ever seen and believe me I've been to a few hospitals in my time."

"How many?" She asked, still intent on the Jell-O blob before her.

"More than three hundred, at least." Dean replied, somewhat hypnotized by the jiggling dessert before him, not really thinking about what he was saying.

"What? Oh my God, why?" Her spoon clattering loudly on the table as she gaped at him in shock.

"That's the second time I've gotten that exact reaction today." Dean snapped out of his autopilot and smiled trying to distract her with a bad joke. "Oh, okay that could seem like a lot but that's been over my entire life, counting visits to family and friends." He gave her a reassuring smile, lying with all his normal smooth confidence all the while mentally kicking himself for saying such a stupid thing. "Never anything serious either, just the usual stuff."

"Really? Because three hundred seems like a lot, at least where I come from it seems like a lot." Zoe gave him a searching look, examining him for signs of illness, only noticing the wear and tear of all his years of hunting. "Just don't keel over on me, okay? I need that ride since Josh is going to be heading home to recuperate." She gave him a dazzling smile to show that she was kidding.

"We should be able to leave today, Sam's just waiting to get the doctor's okay and then we can hit the road. Sorry about earlier this morning, it's never happened before I swear." Dean stared at the hospital tabletop, too embarrassed to meet her eyes.

"It's okay, I completely understand its-" Zoe placed a compassionate hand on his forearm.

"No, its not. I mean I offer you breakfast and just as we-" Dean took his turn to cut her off, the kind tone in her voice too much for him.

"Dean it's not the first time this kind of thing has happened, I understand, really I do."

"Its just, I'm sorry I just left. Its…he's my brother, so when they phoned saying he was awake and asking for me I had to go. Even if it was halfway through, I'm really sorry I couldn't finish with you, but he's family."

"You act like you've never left a girl in the middle of breakfast before. Don't worry about it, we'll get a rain check for it." She smiled another spine melting smile and gently patted his hand.

Zoe puzzled Dean; she was so vital, so fresh and youthful. He had a hard time believing she was 22 let alone 37 she was just too fun. Normally he didn't go for older women, but there was such energy about her, he was too intrigued to fight its pull. Once Sammy met Zoe he'd stop grousing about giving her a ride.

"Dean? Dean?" Zoe waved a hand in front of his eyes to draw his attention. "Its almost eleven o'clock, isn't that when your brother is being 'released'?"

"Uh, yeah oh and one more thing." Dean smiled wickedly, a gleam in his eyes. "No matter what he says or how much he complains you have to call him 'Sammy'. He may whine, a lot, but I know he secretly loves it." Dean grinned at his pet name for his baby brother.

"Okay, I'm sure he'll thank you for that." Zoe replied dryly.


	2. Time To Hit The Road

Okay, here is the usual disclaimer: I do not own supernatural, nor any character created by the show, nor some of the ones in this story 'cause I stole them from almost 'real' life (my friends). Nor am I making any money from this unless my friends try and bribe me not to put it up, but I will anyway, so alas no money.

A/N: This takes place before 'Shadows' so haven't caught up to John and are still looking for him and the demon.

A/N 2: This is another in the 'Roadtripping' stories, basically what would happen if a regular person caught a ride with the Winchesters.

Beta'd: by the excellent morning sunlight.

Good writing to everyone

Serenity for all

Sincerely Rae Artemis

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Time To Hit The Road

"Okay Dean, one more time what's our cover?" Sam glared at his older brother as he changed into his clothes from the hospital gown. "I mean what does she think we're doing? The old road trip story again?" Sam rolled his eyes at the thought of the old story being used yet again. "And how did she not figure out what he was doing while she was riding with him?"

"First off Sammy what other story do we have that works better than the road trip story? And second Joshua wasn't going to hunt until he dropped her off but he got a phone call from Caleb. The phone call was to help a young hunter they know who got in over his head and needed help, Joshua was the closest and had to help the poor guy."

"How is he anyway?" Came a muffled question from Sam as he slipped his shirt over his head. "I thought he was just going to research and quit hunting, he's getting pretty old for it now."

"He's only a few years older than Dad and he was, but this hunter needed help and there was no one else, so he went in. Anyway he got pretty beat up by a shape shifter with a knife."

"Why do shifters like knives so much?" Sam grumbled as he carefully shrugged into his hoodie, very aware of his shoulder and the hole in it.

"Don't know, maybe they like the up close personal kill." Dean relied offhandedly, as he finished packing Sammy's bag, making sure his baby brother didn't forget anything. It was a routine that had been ingrained by a lifetime spent taking care of his family. Dean eventually became aware of Sam staring at him, an amused, somewhat sappy smile on his face.

"Dude, what?"

"Nothing…just…" Sam had missed these kinds of moments, the sense of safety and home Dean could create in minutes like these. Dean had a way of making every hotel room or hospital room comfortable and familiar just by being there. Living at Standford by himself and later with Jessica had been great, but had always seemed to be lacking a small detail and Sam now recognized this to be the perfect comfort of 'home'. "You said Dad sent co-ordinates?"

"Yeah something is going down in Florida and we need to head out there, the message said we get more in a few days after Dad has checked his sources." Dean kept his voice carefully neutral, not wanting to give away that he'd actually spoken to their dad and not received a text message.

"I still don't know how we can know its him, the man is technologically challenged. Remember when he blew up that microwave? Or the fact that anytime he touches a computer it melts down? Seriously how do we know its him?" Sam scoffed, not noticing Dean's far away look.

When John had phoned Dean, Sam had been unconscious and so had not seen the look of shock Dean had gotten from hearing his Dad's voice. He'd quickly left the room in case Sam would wake up at the ringing and received the orders from his dad. Apparently there was some kind monster in the Florida Keys that was eating tourists dumb enough to ignore the local's advice. There was a friend of Pastor Jim's who had alerted him to the occurrences and was waiting to fill Sam and Dean in on the goings on in the area.

It had sounded fairly cut and dry so Dean figured that he and Sammy could handle it without alerting Zoe to their unconventional day job. Now with the job staring him straight in the face he wasn't so sure and was a bit nervous about taking Zoe along for the ride. Especially since John had been so sloppy with giving details about their contact in Florida, which was very unlike him. A hunt was planned to the smallest detail with John Winchester or it didn't happen. With the lack of detailed intelligence and the fact he had invited a civilian on the trip Dean was beginning to feel a bit worried about the whole thing. His father's last few words of wisdom weren't at all comforting as they had been cryptic and terribly vague, 'be careful with these people, they're good but they might not agree with…our methods'.

"Dean? Dean?" Sam was staring at him, an exasperated look on his face. "Are you listening at all? Or are you thinking about our hitchhiker? Man the dumb things you've done in your entire life don't even compare to this. How are we going to do the job with her around? Seriously you need to let your upstairs mind do your decision making from now on."

"And you need to chill out, it'll be easy. We'll just drop her off with Pastor Jim's friend and get on with the job. No need to whine and bitch about it like it's the end of the world." Dean replied bluffing Sam and his own fear.

The last thing he wanted was for someone to reject him for his day job, again. After Cassie had done that it had nearly killed him, quite literally. On the hunt after she'd tossed him he'd been so distracted by her rebuff of his life that he'd been caught unaware by the ghost they were hunting and had been thrown out of a second story window, leaving John to finish the ghost by himself. Dean had been left at Pastor Jim's to recover and 'get his head in the right place!' according to his dad. Cassie had been the only person he'd ever told and she'd pushed him away, ain't love grand? He didn't really know Zoe and wasn't sure how he felt about her, it wasn't love but it was something and he did not want to lose whatever it was, not yet.

"Dude!" Sam was in front of him a look of concern plastered on his face. "Were you hit in the head or something on that hunt? I've been trying to get your attention for the last few minutes. What going on?"

"Nothing, just thinking about the next hunt."

"Really? You actually 'think'? Have thought processes and everything? Wow, who knew?" Sam snarked, still annoyed that Dean was bringing along the chick who he'd picked up while Sam had been getting the bullet dug out of his shoulder, curtsey of Dean. He knew it was an accident but the fact that Dean had gotten a one night stand out of the deal and therefore hadn't been there when Sam had woken up was upsetting. Now the one night stand, Zoe, was going to be with them on this hunt making it impossible for Sam to get Dean to open up about his feelings and talk out the shooting incident let alone deal with the whole 'looking for Dad' issue that Dean was so vigorously avoiding.

"Ha ha, very funny." Dean replied throwing Sam his stuff, a little harder than he normally would have. "We've got to get going or we won't make it out of town before that check bounces." He announced before slipping out the door to avoid further argument.

Dean strode down the hallway, not waiting to see if Sam was following him or even coming along.


	3. 99 Bottles

Okay, here is the usual disclaimer: I do not own supernatural, nor any character created by the show, nor some of the ones in this story 'cause I stole them from almost 'real' life (my friends). Nor am I making any money from this unless my friends try and bribe me not to put it up, but I will anyway, so alas no money.

A/N: This car scene is based off my own experience over the holidays, being stuck in a car with family in a less than relaxing situation.

Beta'd: by the excellent morning sunlight and the wonderful . Both of you are great and terribly helpful, thanks!

Good writing to everyone

Serenity for all

Sincerely Rae Artemis

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99 Bottles

"Dean, would you _stop_ humming that song? Please!" Sam groaned, yet again, from his scrunched up horizontal position on the backseat.

"Aww, Sammy, you used to love this song when you were younger." Dean crowed from the front seat, a smug grin on his face, as Zoe sat beside him trying to hide a smirk at their brotherly snarking. "You could consider this payback for that time in Arkansas when you wouldn't stop singing 'The Song That Never Ends'" Dean turned slightly to Zoe. "You wouldn't believe it he sang for over five hours until his voice gave out, thankfully."

"It sounds as though you've travelled around a fair bit, family vacations?" Zoe turned in the seat so she could talk to Sam, whom she was trying to make a good impression on. "Any memorable stories or places you've visited?"

At Zoe's question, Sam bolted upright in the back seat to meet Dean's eyes in the review mirror, stifling a gasp of pain as his shoulder objected to the movement.

"Uh…"Sam temporized, caught off guard by the innocent question. This is why having a tag-a-long was a bad idea, not only was there the inability to do research in the car, to throw out ideas, but they also had to edit their lives for public consumption.

"Yeah, we did a lot of travelling in this car as kids." Dean smoothly cut in, an easy smile on his face as he half-truthed. "Actually Sammy-"

"Its Sam."

"-and I used to play all kinds of games to keep boredom at bay. I am the champion of 'Questions'."

"What's this 'Questions'?" Zoe asked, one of her eyebrows quirking up as she waited for the punch line.

"Do you want to play 'Questions'?" Dean smiled, ignoring Sam's groan from the back seat as a flashback of the never-ending sessions of 'Questions' flooded back to Sam.

"How do you play?"

"Don't you know how?"

"Where did you learn the game?" Zoe saw Sam sink into the seat, hands over his ears as the game commenced.

"Why do you want to know?" Dean shot back, a challenging gleam in his eyes.

"Um…" Zoe's mind cast about for a reasonable question as Dean's smile grew broader. From the back seat Sam called out the score.

"That's one for Dean, zero for Zoe." Two hands appeared showing the score, as if anyone had missed the announcement.

"Time out? Is this from 'Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead'?"

"Yes." Sam sat up, a slow grin as he remembered the day he'd convinced his dad and Dean to go to the movies like a normal family. "I had been begging my dad to let us go see 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' and finally he gave in. But when we got there, the movie was sold out and it was only a two screen theatre, so we had to go with the other movie which was 'Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead', which was deserted. It was such a cool movie, but Dad fell asleep in it, as he hadn't been sleeping well for the past week." Truthfully, John had been hunting a werewolf for a week and hadn't slept for over 32 hours, which is why Sam had won the argument about the movie. "Anyway, Dean and I ran wild in that theatre for the first little bit of the movie but when the Questions game began we stopped playing around and sat down and watched the movie."

"It was okay." Dean grudgingly admitted, a smile twitching on his lips at the memory of Sammy bouncing up and down as Shakespeare was recited on screen.

Once, when John had left them at Pastor Jim's for a week so he could hunt, Sam had explored the library Jim had and stumbled across the complete works of Shakespeare. Sammy had been too young to understand some words and had been driving Dean crazy asking how to pronounce every other word, so eventually Dean had just decided to read it to Sammy. They spent the entire rainy day reading the big leather bound book, until Jim had found them curled up in the armchair asleep, the book cradled in Dean's lap. For the rest of the week Sammy had persuaded Dean to read him a play or two each day, even after the weather cleared up and the sun reappeared. After this week full of Shakespeare, Sammy was hooked and Dean was already trying out the sonnets, to his advantage, with the neighbourhood girls, even if he was a bit young at the time. Sam dragged Dean out of the memory with a derisive snort.

"'Okay'? Just 'okay' Mr. Master-of-the-Questions-game?"

"Whatever Sammy." Dean muttered, turning his attention back to the road.

"Its Sam. Zoe, you've seen the movie? Or did you read the play?"

"There's a play?" Dean asked, astounded. Zoe and Sam roundly ignored him, both smirking slightly.

"I admit that I've only seen the movie. A friend of mine suggested it to me; she's a big Gary Oldman fan. I have heard the play is a good read, but I have yet to get to it, among other things."

"I read the play but only after watching the movie, so I always think of the movie first." Sam admitted with a noncommittal shrug, which was closely followed by a wince of pain.

"Well if you guys are done with the movie critic bit, any thoughts as to where we should grab lunch? 'Cause I don't know about you two but I'm starving over here." Dean gripped the wheel tighter, as his stomach tried to eat itself.

"Anywhere that isn't fast food!" Sam insisted from the back seat.


	4. Woody's Diner

Okay, here is the usual disclaimer: I do not own supernatural, nor any character created by the show, nor some of the ones in this story 'cause I stole them from almost 'real' life (my friends). Nor am I making any money from this unless my friends try and bribe me not to put it up, but I will anyway, so alas no money.

A/N: First off this Woody's is an actually Diner in Sidney, Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada and it has the BEST milkshakes and fries and well everything.

Beta'd: the wondrous morning sunlight who is beta'ing me even though she is still traveling.

Good writing

Serenity for all

Sincerely Rae Artemis

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Woody's Diner And Other Famous Landmarks

"So this healthy enough for you both?" Dean grumbled as they sat in Woody's Diner in the middle of nowhere. Sam and Zoe shared a conspiratorial glance and gave him innocent looks, as if they had not been harassing him for the last 5 miles to stop somewhere 'good' for food. Apparently Arby's, McDonalds, Wendy's, Taco Time, Burger King, the Colonel's Kentucky Fried Chicken, or even Subway wasn't healthy or local enough for either of theirs taste.

"Yeah Dean, its great very interesting place." Zoe relented seeing his lack of sleep catching up with him so, of course, Zoe's conciliatory nature kicked in making her try and please them all. "Right Sam?" She nudged Sam under the table encouraging him to be nice.

"Um, yeah its pretty good." He smiled good-naturedly. "Its great Dean really, I think they have milkshakes."

So here they were after much harassing and cajoling of Dean, in small town diner straight out of the 1950's, which had a distinctly 'Frankie and Annette Beach Blanket Bingo' atmosphere. The tables were surf boards, the service counter had an ocean wave carved into it, the payment area was disguised as a surf shack with a faux weathered sign dubbing it 'Woody's' and most of the décor was a bright cheery sea foam green. Dean found himself humming along to Buddy Holly's 'Peggy Sue', which was currently playing in the background.

The food was pretty good and though he tried not to show it the place had a certain charm. Zoe was gawking like the tourist she was, asking the waitress what movie was playing on the vintage TV set? ('Guys And Dolls'.) Or who did the murals of the beach on the walls? ('Milroy, local artist') Who was Woody? ('No one, the place was named after the old wood paneled station wagons') And a dozen other questions he never would have thought to ask.

Zoe though had an excuse of being a tourist while Sam should've been used to unusual things. However Sam kept looking around the place like he was afraid he'd miss something, which was possible considering how full it was, especially considering it was one o'clock in the afternoon.

"Its too nice a day to spend it in the car." Sam muttered somewhat sullenly under his breath, staring longingly out at the sun drenched street.

"What? You're right Sammy." Dean noticed she was calling him Sammy and he didn't object to her doing it. Zoe looked outside with yearning, they been driving for two days straight and while they were making good time the car wasn't that interesting. "We should grab a room for the night and spend the day here, taking in some local customs." Having agreed with eye contact they started in on Dean who was sure to crumbled to the combined puppy dog looks of Zoe and Sam.

"No."

"Dean, we could phone our 'friend' and see if we needed now or if there's time." Sam suggested, a wheedling tone in his voice.

"No."

"I mean the job will still be there when we get there and the pattern gives us another week and a half before anything is meant to happen." Sam continued using his very reasonable, calm tone while Zoe continued to give him the melting puppy dog eyes.

"No."

"We would only be able to get maybe 5 more hours of driving in." Zoe backed him up by giving Dean a bright smile.

"Well." Sensing victory Sam kept pushing.

"And we need to get supplies anyway so why not do it here, there's only another day's drive to go anyway."

"Fine, alright. I surrender, I give up, white flag flying already." Dean signalled the waitress for the bill. "I'll go give Tom a call, make sure he's okay with us taking a night off here." Dean quickly ducked outside the diner to make the call.

"This is 'The Place', Tom speaking how can I help you?" Dean recognized Pastor Jim's friend's voice on the phone.

"Tom? It's Dean. We're only a day or so out but we have a passenger who doesn't know what we do. Anyway she's a tourist we picked up from a Joshua after he…well it's a long story. We're going to be another day or so, I'm just phoning to let you know what's going on and make sure the thing hasn't stepped up its hunting pattern."

"So far it's been quiet Dean, it's not due for a while yet so don't worry about it, we'll keep an eye out." Tom reassured him over the phone, speaking loudly as the volume in the background rouse another few notches. It sounded as though there were a great party going on in the background, a party Dean suddenly wanted to join in on. Turning back to the windows he saw Sam and Zoe talking animatedly, probably plotting their next move of their fun filled afternoon.

"So what do we do first?"

"Well, why don't we go enjoy the sun?" Zoe suggested noticing Sam's grin and Dean's eye roll. "Or something."

"Let's get the check and find a sporting goods store." Sam said a smirk on his face as he stretched out in his chair.

"Why's that?" Zoe said, quickly snapping some pictures of the dinner, before finally catching Sam and Dean in a nice candid shot.

"Easy there Flash, I may want to use these eyes later." Dean muttered as he tried to blink away the dots in his vision from the flash.

"Flash? Maybe that should be her new nickname, hey Dean?"

"Yeah, Flash." Dean chuckled making the mere word 'Flash' dirty.

"Your bill sir." The waitress appeared at the table, grinning having overheard part of the conversation.

"Sir?" Dean echoed, his brow furrowing with worry, he wasn't a 'sir', his dad was a sir, and Pastor Jim was a sir.

"You can pay up at the surf shack, when you're ready." She gave them all a bright smile and collected their dishes.

"Sir?" Dean repeated again, somewhat dumbfounded, Zoe just grinned at his horror while Sam rolled his eyes and plucked the check off the table. He chuckled as he walked up to the surf shack payment counter, the waitress waiting for him and giving him a welcoming smile, more than she had given Dean Sam noticed to his joy.

"So your brother's girlfriend wants to find something to do in town?"

"Um." Sam temporized not sure if Zoe was Dean's current 'girlfriend' or not. "Yeah, we're going to be staying here for the night and were wondering if there's anything to do in town, local places of interest or any of the like?" Sam gave her his best charming smile and she felt her knees wobble.

"Well if you were to come back after six I'm off then and would be happy to show you around town. There's 'Music Under The Stars' in the park tonight, it's a local band my cousin is in it. Until then the movie theatre has two shows playing but it's a local theatre so they're really old movies. I think they're playing 'Serenity' and 'Rent' both are really old but the owner can't afford new ones and has a deal with the distribution company." She gave him a seductive smile. "So I'll see you later? Around six?"

"Well I'll check with my brother but…yeah I'd like that." He paid the bill, giving her a generous tip for the good service and information about the town. Walking back to Dean and Zoe he caught them holding hands under the table, Zoe apparently embarrassed to have been caught at it.

"So anything worth doing in this place?" Dean asked, the telltale glint in his eyes undercutting the innocent words.

"Well, Julie mentioned a movie theatre and tonight music in the park, so we have some choices." Sam replied fighting the blush attempting to crawl up his neck, Dean's raised eyebrow not making it easy.

"Her name is Julie?" Dean smirked, amusement clear in his eyes.

"Did she say what movies were playing?" Zoe asked, looking at her watch trying to figure out if they had enough time to drop by for a movie then dinner.

"'Rent' and something called 'Serenity'." Dean perked up at the mention of 'Serenity' Sam noticed. Taking Zoe aside while Dean plotted how to see 'Serenity' without Sam finding out about his love for the movie.

"Hey I need to get him an appointment for glasses, I think his sight is going…" Sam trailed off not wanting to tell her that's how he had been shot. "Anyway I just need five minutes to phone around and find a place, can you distract him for a little while?"

"Shouldn't he have a choice? I'm sure he can be reasonable about it if you ask him." Zoe stated showing how much she had left to learn about Dean.

"Yeah and pigs can fly. Can you keep him busy while I go set this up?"

"Okay maybe we'll take a walk in the park." She walked back to Dean a wide grin on her face, murmuring something about 'stretching their legs in the park and leaving Sam to his new girl'. Dean gave Sam a thumbs up and put his arm around Zoe's shoulders, pulling her close. As soon as they turned the corner Sam raced back into the diner and borrowed the phone book, praying the town had an optometrist, finding 2 names he called them and set up an ambush for Dean.

Having set the trap and confirming the time with Janet the receptionist Sam decided to grab a milkshake and kill sometime before finding Dean and Zoe, if he was going to drag Dean to the doctor then he was going to be nice before hand.

Meanwhile in the park Dean was being thoroughly distracted by Zoe, as they explored the area. Almost an hour after Sam had sent them off he found them under a tree looking at clouds and trading travelling stories. Zoe winked at Sam as he neared, then she looked at her watch and told Dean she had to run off to the store before they closed. Really she was heading back to the motel to use Sam's laptop to do some e-mailing and get some writing done.

"I wonder what store closes this early?" Dean mused as he leaned against the tree trunk, relaxed and almost at peace.

"Hey Dean don't we need to grab some supplies? I know there's a place across town that should have everything we'll need."

"Sure, should we run back and grab the car?" Dean asked accepting Sam's offered hand up.

"Naw, I don't think we need to grab too much. Just a one or two little but essential things." Sam said, smiling as Dean nodded in agreement.

"Okay well lead the way geek boy." Dean was calm enough until Sam began to open the door of the 'supply' store.

"No. There is no way, Sammy. I'm not going." Dean crossed his arms across his chest and glared at his brother.

"It's Sam and you are going, I phoned ahead for an appointment and everything. They are expecting you in fifteen minutes, you ARE going." Sam looked at his brother trying to think of a way to convince him to keep the appointment. "Well, if not for yourself, then do it for me. By not going you're putting my life in danger. Or don't you remember shooting me?"

Dean sighed he wasn't going to get out of this 'Appointment'. An hour and a half later he was bespectacled and had to grudgingly he could see things clearer, though he couldn't admit it to Sammy.


	5. Serene Dreams

Okay, here is the usual disclaimer: I do not own supernatural, nor any character created by the show, nor some of the ones in this story 'cause I stole them from almost 'real' life (my friends). Nor am I making any money from this unless my friends try and bribe me not to put it up, but I will anyway, so alas no money.

A/N: Sorry for the LONG wait but life is nuts and my Muses are hard to find until lately.

Beta'd: nobody, I wanted to get it up because it's been FOREVER since I updated, sorry!

Good writing

Serenity for all

Sincerely Rae Artemis

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Serene Dreams

Dean had been sulking about being forced to get glasses, though Zoe and Julie's comments about how 'distinguished' they made him look. Of course whenever the girls looked away Dean gave Sam annoyed looks and mimed choking him. After forcing Dean to get glasses, they'd gone back to the motel to clean up before picking up Julie and then going to the movie theatre for 'Serenity'; which Zoe and Dean both seemed excited about. Julie had been trying to drag Sam's attention away from the movie by trying to make out with him while Dean and Zoe were, apparently, entranced by the movie. Sam had left them to their movie while he and Julie snuck out halfway through to go for a walk and enjoy each other's company.

However Sam did have to end the night by seeing Julie to her house and returning to the motel. He woke up sometime later, aware of someone cracking open the door of the room slinking through the door. Ever so slowly Sam reached under his pillow to pull out the knife he'd hidden under there earlier, a trick he'd picked up from Dean recently. The intruder moved quietly around the room, past the two windows, into the bathroom.

As the shadow slipped through the doorway Sam took the opportunity to grab the flask of Holy water he'd placed in the drawer of the bedside table. Properly armed he rolled onto his side, listening for further movement from the suspected robber. Listening hard, Sam slowed his breathing, which had sped up with the anxiety of waiting. The shuffling footsteps grew louder, indicating to Sam that the intruder had left the bathroom and was just passing the beds. Sam waited until the robber was past him before leaping out of bed and tackling the shadowy figure.

"Ooof!" Cried the burglar as Sam slammed him into the floor. "What are you doing Sammy?"

"Dean? You scared the crap out of me!" Sam gasped out, pulling himself and Dean up off the floor.

"Well I was looking for a beer…" Dean gave him a cocky smile as he strolled over to the lamp on the table between the beds.

"Seriously, why are you here? Zoe toss you already?" Sam smiled to take the sting out of his words

"No." Dean replied in a flat tone, as if the possibility were totally alien to him. "I just thought I'd check on my goofy little brother and make sure he remembered to salt the windows and doors to be safe."

"Oh, uh, sorry. You were checking up on me?" Sam felt stupid for tackling Dean to the ground.

"Well yeah and I was coming to bed. I didn't want wake you up because you looked like you needed your beauty sleep but wanted to be sure you remembered to 'secure the perimeter'." Dean replied quoting their dad's rulebook about setting up a 'home base'. "Zoe and I enjoyed the movie and as for the rest, a gentleman never tells."

"So she tossed you eh?" Sam grinned as Dean gave him a look of death.

"Well we do need to get on the road early tomorrow if we're going to make it to our next job." Dean rubbed his face with fatigue. "We need to take care of that already, Pastor Jim recommended us for this, we can't let him down."

"We won't Dean, we've got time before the next attack according to the pattern of attacks." Sam reached for his laptop only to stop as Dean shook his head. "What? You don't want to go over the research again?"

"Need to be up early tomorrow dude. Play with the computer later, we'll go over the facts tomorrow before we head out, right now I just wanna go to bed." Dean flopped boneless-ly back onto his bed.

"I guess you had fun." Sam muttered, trying not to smile as Dean fell as sleep almost instantly, a contented grin on his face. "Musta been a good movie."

Sam lay back, replacing the knife and the Holy water and making sure Dean was asleep, he picked up his laptop to go over the research again to try and figure out their next job.


	6. On The Road Again

Okay, here is the usual disclaimer: I do not own supernatural, nor any character created by the show, nor some of the ones in t

Okay, here is the usual disclaimer: I do not own supernatural, nor any character created by the show, nor some of the ones in this story 'cause I stole them from almost 'real' life (my friends). Nor am I making any money from this unless my friends try and bribe me not to put it up, but I will anyway, so alas no money.

A/N: Praise the gods I'm free at last! I finally finished my 6, count 'em 6 courses this term. So now that I'm done with required Creative Writing I can finally get done to some true creative writing! Sorry for in painfully long absence from fanfic, if it makes anyone feel better I really, really missed it! Pardon me I'm writing this as my friend Rob Dionysus watches a rerun of Brimstone. Crap he just punned…

SMACK!

Sorry I had to go whack him for punning, it was that bad. Should he and I ever manage to finish the story we're writing together for fanfic, you will see and suffer.

Beta'd: Rob Dionysus was in the room when I wrote it does that count? No well then no one.

Dedicated to: as always morning sunlight who has always encouraged my still scribbles, Rob Dionysus who keeps me in my place ego wise. And finally Mokibobolink, who recently reviewed this story and reminded me that it exists and that I enjoy writing it!

Good writing

Serenity for all

Sincerely Rae Artemis

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On The Road Again

The next morning came too soon for Dean and Sam, as Dean hadn't slept well worrying that because they'd taken time off someone might be harmed. His nightmares were filled with his father, Bobby and Pastor Jim all berating him for his lack of faith to the cause. Sam had been up late looking over the research they'd collected, trying to puzzle out what the threat could be. He'd been comparing everything in Dad's journal against their monster stats but so far he couldn't figure out what it was. Because of their worries over their day of vacation they needed yet another vacation and wanted to sleep in, for a good long while.

In the end Zoe had called their room to wake them up and get them on the road, her voice over the phone very apologetic but firm that they should get a move on. It was strange because Dean was going to say the same thing only a couple hours later, as he hated to wake up. After barking at Sam to pick up the phone and then listening in on the conversation, Dean knew he had to get up. Sam informed Zoe that they'd meet her at the diner in an hour. After quickly packing and taking time for a very quick shower, they took off to the diner, Dean shuddering as the light hit him in his sleep deprived eyes.

"Well, well, look what the cat dragged in." Zoe called to them as they wandered in the door, already seated at a table, with a coffee.

"Good morning Zoe." Sam smiled at Julie who was working this morning. "Sorry we took so long, Sleeping Beauty here didn't want to get up."

Dean replied with a nearly incoherent growl, begrudgingly taking off his sunglasses as he sat down beside Zoe at the table.

"I wasn't the one who had to style my girly locks for fifteen minutes!" He smiled widely at Zoe as Sam sputtered out a lame excuse, that at least he didn't have a brush cut. They ordered from a very pleased Julie who kept flirting with Sam, making eyes at him as she served him.

"I do believe that Julie over there will be devastated to see you leave, Sammy." Zoe smiled at Sam as he sent Dean a glare full of daggers, for him telling Zoe to call him that.

"She's nice enough and we had a good time, but I'm sure she'll get over it pretty soon. We spent the better part of last night talking, or rather me listening to her complain about her ex-boyfriend and how he'd be so jealous hearing that she was out with me." Sam smiled as Dean gave him a sympathetic look. "It was fine, we had a nice time and I dropped her at her door. Did you and Dean enjoy the movie Zoe?" Sam asked changing the subject and smiling as Dean blushed all the way to his ears, and Zoe began to gush about how great the movie was.

They had a nice languorous breakfast and then went back to the motel to toss their bags into the car so they could get on the road. After a few hours on the road Sam called their contact, Tom Hauptman at 'The Place' to let him know they were on their way and hopefully would be there late that night.

"Well I didn't hear of anything happening last night, and we're rounding up the gang to see if anyone heard of anything." Sam could almost hear the man shrug over the phone. "Hopefully by the time you boys get here we'll have something useful to report."

"Actually its not just me and Dean." Sam glanced at Zoe in the backseat, who appeared to be typing away on her computer, not listening to the conversation. "We've got a friend travelling with us so we were hoping you might be able to put up one more?"

"No problem, the gang here has plenty of room and no one minds sharing." Tom's smile came across over the phone, making Sam smile in response. "We're a pretty laid back lot here."

"Well we are on our way and we should be there this afternoon." He looked over to Dean who nodded in confirmation, his eyes never leaving the road as he pushed the speedometer further over the legal limit.

"We're fighting the Seven Mile Bridge now, so I think we'll be there fairly soon." Sam noticed the sign as they began passing the many mini keys that made up the Florida Keys.

"Do you boys need anything special set up for when you get here?" Tom asked as someone began to speak in the background, just beyond Sam's hearing. "Hey Jake I'm on the phone with the guys Jim is sending." Tom asked, background noise beginning to get louder, the clinking of glasses and voices of others.

"If you could have the people who are involved in this ready when we get there?" Sam offered not able to go into detail with Zoe in the car. "I've gotta go, the signal for my cell is starting to die."

"Alright, drive safe kid, we'll have dinner ready here when you all show up, a welcome to 'the Place' BBQ for you kids."

Sam sat back and enjoyed to stunning Florida scenery, which was surprisingly beautiful compared to all the fields and dreary cityscapes he was so very used to. Within a few moments Zoe looked up and began taking pictures of everything including Sam and Dean. It quickly devolved into a silly photo session. Of course she asked Sam to take a few shots from his better seat and begged Dean to pull over every fifteen minutes so she could get the next perfect shot. There for the journey took them a little longer than it should have, though it was far more rewarding than it would have otherwise been.

As the bridge over the keys wore on, Sam considered checking the map again to see how much further they had to go. He was digging through the tightly packed glove compartment when Zoe struck up a game of 'Questions' with him and his attention was solely on the game, in not too long a time.


End file.
